Can Chinese automaker BYD match Tesla’s global presence?

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Chinese automaker BYD is one of the fastest-growing companies in the electric vehicle (EV) market.

It overtook US carmaker Tesla as the top seller of EVs in the final quarter of last year, selling more than half a million cars, according to figures from the companies.

Tesla still came out on top for most EVs sold for the whole of 2023 with around 1.8 million vehicle sales, compared to BYD’s 1.6 million.

BYD’s success in 2023 was influenced by a surge in the sale of small, low-cost EVs such as its Seagull and Dolphin models.

Its rapid growth is attributed to the huge Chinese market and government policies to encourage the EV industry.

“About 90 per cent of their sales and a lot of their stuff there is done on selling in big volumes and at quite competitive prices,” said James Attwood, Acting Magazine Editor at Autocar.

Whether BYD will be able to replicate Tesla’s global success is a question that looms large in the rapidly evolving EV landscape.

“BYD is really looking to expand globally. So in the last couple of years, it started selling cars in Europe and it really does have bold ambitions to keep growing in Europe,” said Attwood.

Biggest EV maker in Europe by 2030

The Chinese carmaker is planning to build a new factory in Hungary to manufacture cars locally in the region with ambitions to be the biggest electric car manufacturer in Europe by 2030.

While it may sound like a “crazy ambition,” Attwood believes it’s feasible.

The key factor of BYD’s success is its competitive pricing, analysts say.

“The biggest difference is where they compete. Tesla still has a kind of fairly style and design (approach), and there’s real desire around that Tesla badge and brand now, whereas BYD much more competes on price but it’s kind of offering more for the same price as other car firms,” said Attwood.

While it looks like a battle between Tesla and BYD for sales, experts say the rise of BYD and other Chinese electric vehicle makers poses a challenge for the world’s major automakers.

“You have Tesla, which is an American start-up that only started just over a decade ago, and BYD, which is a Chinese firm that only really started making cars about 20 years ago, and they’re competing to be the world’s biggest EV manufacturer,” said Attwood.

“At this point, that means that all the big legacy firms, Volkswagen, Ford, Honda and Toyota, are actually playing catch up to these two firms that just weren’t on their radar five, ten years ago”.

Unlike Tesla, BYD also makes hybrid vehicles. Including its 1.4 million hybrids, BYD far outpaced its American competitor in 2023 with sales of 3 million passenger cars.

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